Means for stoking furnaces.



No. 738,133. PATBNTED SEPT. 1, 1903.

W. W. WEAVER. MEANS FOR STOKING FURNACES.

-WILLIAM W. WEAVER, OF CHICAGO,

Patented September 1, 1903.

PATENT OEEIcE.

ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO HOT BLAST SMOKELESS STOKER COMPANY, A CORPORATIONOF ARIZONA TERRI- TORY.

MEANS FOR STOKING FURNACES.

SFECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 738,133, datedSeptember 1, 1903.

Application filed December 30, 1901. Serial 110. 87,679. (No model.)

To (all whom it may concern:

Beit known that 1, WILLIAM W. WEAvER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cool; and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Means for Stoking Furnaces, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to the art of stoking furnaces, and m oreparticularly to the art of stoking line-fuel furnaces; and it has forits primary object to feed the furnace or the stoking-inlet thereof witha continuous supply of fuel and at the same time keep the store of fuelfrom which such supply is drawn permanently cut off from thestokinginlet, whereby the amount passing into the furnace may be gagedand regulated to a nicety without danger of a surplus of fuel beingdrawn in by the forced fluid fuel element, such as air or steam, usuallyemployed in this art for injecting the fuel.

iVith these ends in view my invention consists in certain features ofnovelty here inafter described, and shown in the accompanying drawings,by which the said objects and certain other objects hereinafterappearing are attained.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a transverse sectional view of thecombined valve and measuring device, taken on the line 1 1, Fig. 2. Fig.2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, taken on the line 2, Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is aperspective view, partly broken away, showing the nozzle anddraft-regulator hereinafter described; and Fig. l is a verticallongitudinal sectional view thereof, showing the same in connection witha part of the furnace and the feed-neck of the nozzle.

1 is the hopper or the connection whereby the apparatus is secured tothe hopper which contains the fuel, consisting ordinarily of pulverizedcoal or other finely-divided coinbustible, and 2 is a housing arrangedbelow and communicating with the hopper or 110p- ,per-neck 1 and inwhich housing is situated a cylindrical valve The valve is mounted upona shaft 1, j ournaled in suitable stuffingboxes 5 on the sides of thehousing and projecting therefrom, so that it may be driven in anysuitable manner from any convenient source of power, not necessary toillustrate. The housing 2, directly below the hopper-neck 1, is providedwith an outlet-port 6, and the valve is so proportioned and arrangedthat it will at all times intercept communication between the nec'k orinlet 1 and the outlet 6. The periphery of the valve, however, isprovided with a series of pockets 7, arranged lengthwise of the axis ofrotation of the valve, so as to pass transversely and successivelyacross the lower end of the neck 1 and the discharge-port 0, the valvebeing of cylindrical form and fitting snugly against the sides of thehousing 2, so as to close the ends of the pockets 7 and cut off allcommunication between the inlet 1 and outlet 6, and hence as the seriesof pockets pass successively under the inlet 1 each will receive acharge of fuel, and the series of charges thus formed will be isolatedor cut off from each other and also from the inlet 1 as soon as thepockets pass beyond said inlet, and as they come into register one byone with the outlet 6 they will discharge thcrethrough. In order thatthis feeding of the fuel from the inlet 1 to the outlet 6 may besubstantially continuous, the pockets 7 are arranged diagonally withreference to the outlet 6, which in the example of the invention shownin the drawings is a narrow elongated opening extending the full lengthof the valve 5 and arranged parallel with its axis of rotation, so

that the pocket 7 will approach it end on, and consequently each willdischarge therethrough gradually; but these pockets are lengthwise inform, and to this end preferably curved as shown andso arranged withrelation to each other that the forward end of one will be substantiallyas farzulvanced in the line of rotation as the rear end of the nextpreceding one, and as a consequence l.)el'o.re the preceding one shallhave fully discharged through the outlet 6 the next succeeding one willhave commenced to discharge. It will be seen, therefore, that by thisarrangement of pockets and port the feeding of the fuel to the furnacewill be in the form of a continuous stream and at the same time directcommunication between themain supply or store above the valve, and theinlet to the furnace will be permanently intercepted and the amountbeing fed into the furnace maybe gaged to a nicety by regulating thespeed of rotation of the valve.

The fuel as it falls through the dischargeport 6 may be driven into thefurnace in any suitable way, but preferably by means of a forced currentof some fluid-fuel element under pressure, such as compressed air orsteam, and when this is to be done I preferably employ the form ofnozzle apparatus shown in Figs. 3 and 4, which is provided with afeedneek S, into which the discharge-port 6 is fitted. This feed-neckSis formed on a gradual downward curve and attached to a nozzle 9,adapted to be inserted through the wall of the furnace, and at the lowerside of the neck is formed an inlet 10 for forcing the current of air,steam, or other fluid-fuel element and which inlet is so arranged withrelation to the neck 8 as to draw the fuel falling into the neckdownwardly and force the same into the furnace through the nozzle 9.

I11 order that the fuel may not bank at the point of intersection of theconnection 10 and the curved neck 8, a supplemental inletll is provided,and this is directed slightly downwardly toward the inlet 10, but is ofsmaller caliber than the latter inlet, so that the inlet 10 will inducethe fuel to come down in front of the inlet 11, whose current will inturn propel it by its dynamic force into the path of the current passingthrough the inlet 10, while at the same time inducing more or lesssuction in the neck 8 above the inlet ll.

The lower end of the neck 8 is provided with a damper or draft-regulator12, which is preferably screw-threaded thereon, so that it may be backedoff and accurately adjusted with relation to an air-inlet nozzle orcasing 13, which is supported in the masonry 14: or other part of thefurnace-wall and surrounds the nozzle 9, the outer end of the casing 13communicating with the open atmosphere and bearing such relation to thedamper 12 that the latter may be screwed up accurately against it, so asto shut oif all draft from the casing 13 or back it off any desireddistance for increasing such draft, the damper 12 being screw-threadedon the neck 8 which may be adjusted to a nicety and will maintain itsadjustment.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combination of avalve-housing having a discharge-port and means for communication with astore of fuel, a -valve in said housing permanently closingcommunication between said port and means, and having disconnectedtortuous pockets adapted to register with said port, said pockets beingso relatively arranged that the forward end of one will be as farforward with referenceto said port as the rear end of the next precedingone, substantially as set forth.

2. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combination with avalve-housing having a discharge-port and means for communication with astore of fuel, a valve in said housing permanently closing communicationbetween said port and means, and having disconnected diagonallyarrangedtortuous pockets adapted to register successively with said port andmeans for moving said valve, substantially as set forth.

3. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combination of avalve-housing having a discharge-port and means for communication with astore of fuel, and a cylindrical rotary valve having tortuous peripheralpockets, said pockets and port being so arranged that one will belengthwise of the other at an angle to the axis of rotation of saidvalve, substantially as set forth.

at. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combination with apipe-passage connected at one end with a furnace, means for depositingfuel in the other end of said passage, a fiuid pressure inlet directedinto the outlet end of said passage, and a supplemental fluid-pressureinlet of less diameter directed into said passage at a point above theoutlet thereof, substantially as set forth.

5. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combination of apassage for fuel adapted to be connected with a furnace,means fordepositing fuel in said passage, a fluidpressure inlet directed into theoutlet of said passage for drawing fuel therethrough, and a supplementalfluid-pressure inlet directed into said passage above and in advance ofand at an acute angle to first said fluid-inlet,

- substantially as set forth.

\VILLIAM W. \VEAVER. lVitnesses WV. D. CRoss, F. A. HoPKINs.

